A white truck barreled backward across Central Campus, terrorizing students and knocking over Homecoming signs in its path before crashing north of the Campanile into a cluster of trees.

A regular Monday morning was disrupted shortly before 10:30 a.m. when a high-speed chase ended with six rounds being fired by police on campus.

“’Get out of the way,’” said Jacob Kemner, sophomore in environmental science, about what crossed his mind when he heard the shots.

The driver of the vehicle was struck by at least one shot at the scene and later pronounced dead at Mary Greeley Medical Center, said Geoff Huff, investigations commander for the Ames Police Department.

The driver’s identity was not revealed Monday, but he drove a stolen vehicle with the company name for Spring-Green Lawn Care painted on the side.

The vehicle, which belonged to the suspect’s father, was reported stolen at 10:17 a.m. The suspect and his father had gotten into an argument beforehand, Huff said.

“I work for Parking Division, [and] we have the police scanners in our cars. So when we heard the sirens we turned it on,” said Tanya Schaaf, sophomore in criminal justice and political science. “We heard the scanner saying they were heading [toward] Lincoln on Beach. We looked up, and sure enough, we see the cops.” 

The truck lost a trailer attached to it soon after running a red light to cross Lincoln Way.

After crossing north of Lincoln Way, the driver followed Beach Road onto Wallace Road. The suspect then turned west on Union Drive and followed it around Central Campus past the Memorial Union. He turned north on the Morrill Road, a southbound one-way street that wraps around Central Campus.

Huff said that at this point, pedestrians had to jump out of the way.

“I was in Carver Hall. … All of a sudden we see these cop cars zip past chasing this truck,” said Kristin Clemens, junior in software engineering. “So we ran outside, of course. We’re college students, and that’s what you do.” 

The vehicle then jumped the curb and tore through the open area in reverse.

Taylor Didesch, freshman in animal science, said she and a friend began to run toward the trees by the Hub.

“We thought that he was going to hit us,” Didesch said. “We thought for sure he was going to hit us.”

The chase came to a halt southeast of MacKay Hall just before 10:30 a.m. when police pinned the truck against a tree.

“The driver continued to rev the engine of the truck, revving it back and forth,” Huff said.

An unidentified police officer gave verbal commands to the suspect, who did not cooperate. That was when the officer fired the rounds, Huff said.

“[Officers shoot] when there’s a danger to other people, a danger to the officers involved,” Huff said. “This is really the option they had left.”

Joseph Klingelhutz, sophomore in environmental studies, witnessed  from outside of Catt Hall the shots being fired.

“And then everything just kind of stopped right there,” Klingelhutz said.

The investigation remains active between ISU Police, Ames Police and the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation. The police officer who fired the rounds has since been placed on paid administrative leave.

Maddy Arnold, Makayla Tendall, Seth Young and David Gerhold contributed to this story.